Rethinking Europe’s electric vehicle (EV) transition from a pericentric perspective

With Ágnes Szunomár

The automotive industry is at the heart of Europe's economy and the European integration project, where the electric vehicle (EV) transition – arguably the most profound disruption in car-making since the advent of the moving assembly line – poses major challenges. On one hand, EVs are embraced at an institutional level as a means to address the climate crisis. On the other, the transition exposes uneven regional capacities in terms of innovation, production and resource access. Political challenges of crafting industrial policy, the adverse environmental impact of EV battery production, and shocks to the labor market, are some of the EV transition’s impacts. Moreover, the emergence of China as a global leader, makes Europe’s EV transition a geopolitically sensitive matter.